Page 126 of Red Mountain Burning
She smiled. “You don’thaveto wear it, but I thought I’d give you the option in case you got cold feet with the polka dots.” She held up the basket. “And I picked out some shoes and a little jewelry too.”
Margot was nearly shaking, she was so touched. It occurred to her that Erica had never met Carmen, so she introduced them.
Erica approached her. “Thank God you’re saving her from this absurd polka-dot thing. I don’t know what she was thinking…or smoking.”
“I get it,” Margot confessed. “The polka dots were a stretch. Why don’t we walk over to my house, so we can lay the dress out on the couch?” Margot wanted to see that dress!
While catching up on what Carmen had missed in the six weeks she’d been gone, the three of them circled around Épiphanie and walked through the garden to Margot’s house.
Inside, Remi stood to say hello to Carmen. “Was she surprised?” he asked, offering her a kiss on the cheek.
“Wait a minute,” Margot said to him. “You knew?”
“I needed your shoe size,” Carmen admitted.
Margot hit Remi on the arm. “You said you loved polka dots.”
He shrugged. “I love everything you wear.”
“Okay, enough chitchat,” Erica said. “Let’s open that box.”
Moving to the living area, Margot set the box down on the couch. Everyone gathered around. She pulled the ivory ribbon and then lifted off the top, revealing layers of tissue and a note in a beautiful scroll.
Margot read it out loud. “From Paris with love.” Margot smiled at Carmen, then carefully broke the seal and pulled open the tissue.
The dress was winter white and made of silk, and Margot knew without even holding it up that it would be the most beautiful dress she’d ever seen. She lifted up the bodice, and Carmen helped her stretch it out over the couch. Cut on the bias, the silk dress featured bell sleeves and an ornate trim at the neckline. Margot could instantly see herself in it and couldn’t have imagined a more perfect choice.
“I think it will look absolutely stunning on you,” Carmen said. “I’ve been working with Alfonse for almost ten years. Everyone wants his wedding dresses right now.”
“I can see why.” Margot wrapped her arms around her and thanked her. “This means more than you know. You’re an angel.”
Carmen squeezed her. “Thanks for being a friend. And judging how things are going between our kids, I have a feeling we’ll be family one day.”
“Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Margot said.
* * *
Having spenta few years on the mountain, Emilia was no stranger to harvest. She recognized the smell of ripe fruit in the fall, and she’d picked and stomped grapes for four years now, but today was different.
After sleepless nights and nearly endless deliberation, she was pretty sure it was time to harvest her vines. Though a vein of doubt ran through her, a louder voice was telling her to trust her instincts.
First thing that morning, she had run the numbers, and the levels were acceptable, but as she’d been taught, the numbers only told part of the story.
When she asked Brooks for his opinion, he wasn’t much help. They’d finished picking the white grapes, and he was busy managing their fermentations, as well as prepping for the coming red fruit.
“Will you just tell me if I’m off track?” Emilia begged. “You wouldn’t let me pick too early, would you?”
“These are your vines. I have plenty of decisions to make.” He tasted the sample from her vines again. “Don’t base your decisions on when we picked last year or the year before. This is the hottest and driest year that I can remember. All you can do is pick off taste now.”
“But how can I be sure what it will taste like when it’s fermented? I can’t taste the future.”
“I think youcantaste the future.”
“But I don’t want my first wine to taste like olive and green pepper juice.”
“I wouldn’t either.”
She furrowed her brow in frustration. “You’re really not going to help me decide?”
